csk on a roll

Chennai (PTI): Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed a superb half-century under pressure as Chennai Super Kings recorded a close six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Pepsi IPL match, here on Thursday. Chasing a tricky 160-run target, Chennai were in a spot of bother after a good start but Dhoni lifted the side to its sixth win out of eight matches with an unbeaten 67. Riding on Shikhar Dhawan's scintillating knock of 63 and Ashish Reddy's very useful unbeaten cameo of 36 Sunrisers Hyderabad recovered from early jolts to post a competitive 159 for six after electing to bat. Hyderabad scored 59 runs in the last four overs and that propelled them to a fighting total. However, Chennai had enough batting fire-power to overhaul the target and to record their sixth win out of eight matches. Openers Michael Hussey (45) and Murali Vijay (18) laid a solid platform with a 65-run stand. Spinner Amit Mishra dismissed both the openers with googlies but he grassed a chance offered by Dhoni when he miscued a hook off Dale Steyn and that proved a costly miss. Dhoni had not even opened his account at that time. Mishra also scalped Suresh Raina (16) soon and that did affect Chennai's run-scoring even as Dhoni was at the crease. The other spinner Karan Sharma also bowled exceptionally well as he gave away just 8 runs in his four overs. Chennai needed 46 runs in the last four overs and Dhoni began the 17th over with two consecutive sixes off Dale Steyn. Ishant Sharma got rid of Dwayne Bravo in the next over when the West Indies batsman tried to hit the paceman out of the park but found Reddy at deep mid-wicket. Chennai required 15 runs from the last over. The Indian skipper hammered Ashish Reddy for a six and two fours, steering the side to win with two balls to spare. Brief Scores: SRH 159 for 6 (S Dhawan 63 no, Ashish Reddy 36 no, M Sharma 2/33) lost to CSK 160 for five (MS Dhoni 67 no, M Hussey 45, Amit Mishra 3/26).